Welcome Guest
[ Log In :: Register ]

 

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

Topic: Opeth, Mike's influence on Opeth< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
GhostOfAdelaide Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 9
Joined: Aug. 2011
Posted: Oct. 15 2011, 02:05

Hey there, Mike fans!

Tubular Bells is my favourite album, but I wouldn't say Mike is my favourite artist. That would definitely go to Mikael Akerfeldt and his music for Opeth.

I posted this on the Opeth forum under the thread title "Opeth in the style of Oldfield":

Quote
I posted this in another thread, and I want to expand on it with an idea that I feel deserves its own thread:

Quote
I love them all, but For Absent Friends has something very special about it. It's so amazingly relaxing and emotional. I once put it on repeat for an hour straight, and by the end (I did not get sick of it one bit), I was feeling very inspired. It really does conjure up its own unique world, separate from the rest of Opeth, and it's simply amazing.


I think that's the one side of Opeth we haven't seen enough of. We have an abundance of metal Opeth (every album except Damnation and Heritage), acoustic Opeth (Damnation, To Bid You Farewell, Harvest, Hours Of Wealth) and prog Opeth (Atonement, The Lotus Eater, The Devil's Orchard), but instrumental, percussion-free Opeth, such as Requiem, Silhouette, For Absent Friends and Patterns In The Ivy, remains grossly under-represented.

Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells is my favourite album, largely in part because of the way it is structured and the way that it flows. Most Opeth songs, particularly on Orchid and Morningrise, are like that, but the sounds Mikael creates are more interesting and evocative than Oldfield's. If Mikael were to write an Opeth symphony, in the same way that Tubular Bells is a rock symphony, as an entirely instrumental, album-length conceptual piece, half-devoid of drums, I would be in absolute musical heaven, and we'd have the greatest album of all time on our hands.


And I got a very tepid response. The metalheads on there either didn't understand what I was talking about, didn't care, or ignored it completely because they want double bass and "rockin metal riff's yyyyeaaahhhhhhh".

So I decided to post it here and get what I assume will be a much more level-headed and rational response.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Opeth, but have a listen to some of the tracks I mentioned in my original post and get back to me with your thoughts. :)
Back to top
Profile PM 
larstangmark Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 1759
Joined: Mar. 2005
Posted: Oct. 15 2011, 08:55

don't have time to listen to the tracks right now, but I listened to the new Opeth album the other day and noticed a vibraphone passage that sounded very oldfield-ish.
Haven't heard much Opeth since their first album (the one with a flower on it I think) and I don't have high hopes for neo-prog.
I'll listen to the tracks and get back.


--------------
"There are twelve people in the world, the rest are paste"
Mark E Smith
Back to top
Profile PM WEB 
bob the screamer Offline




Group: Members
Posts: 108
Joined: Jan. 2011
Posted: Oct. 16 2011, 12:11

Hi GhostOfAdelaide,
I am a huge fan of Opeth as well (favourite albums are watershed, still life and morningrise). I think what I like in Opeth's music is the same things I like in Oldfield's music, that is, thoughtful interesting arrangements and compositions with a lot of dynamics and surprises.

However, IMO, Opeth does not even come close to MO's best works. I agree that "morning rise" and "orchid" has a lot of interesting songs (and I found "watershed" to be an amazingly interesting album), but on the other hand they are not as thematic and consistent as MO's compositions. In fact, on morningrise the songs are mostly independent musical ideas (that have not much to do with each other) in sequence, while Oldfield has a very consistent, thematic, logical and very detailed build-ups in most of his compositions. Another thing is that Oldfield uses so many instruments and thereby usually provides more variation than Opeth is able to with their setting.

This is quite an analytic comparison of course, and you may very well disagree with me, but since you mentioned similarities between Opeth and MO, I just wanted to share my views since I really like Opeth as well :)


--------------
New free album out:

http://www.bobthescreamer.com/music/twinety-twine/
Back to top
Profile PM 
2 replies since Oct. 15 2011, 02:05 < Next Oldest | Next Newest >

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

 






Forums | Links | Instruments | Discography | Tours | Articles | FAQ | Artwork | Wallpapers
Biography | Gallery | Videos | MIDI / Ringtones | Tabs | Lyrics | Books | Sitemap | Contact

Mike Oldfield Tubular.net
Mike Oldfield Tubular.net